THE SEAL FISHERY. 1 45 



{^Margarita cinerea), the dead shells tenanted by little 

 hermit-crabs ; the two varieties of Mya truncata, two 

 beautiful ten-armed starfishes {Solaster papposa), beau- 

 tifully roseate \\x the centre, as well as at the middle and 

 tips of the fingers ; the omnipresent knotted sand-star 

 {Ophioglypha nodosa) with fine gray and red shrimps, 

 and mingled with the deep-water forms were two littoral 

 species, the common edible mussel and the Littorina 

 rudis. Another hard pull — and dredging in thirty 

 fathoms by hand, in these days of donkey engines and 

 steamers, with all the paraphernalia of the modern 

 dredge, is no fun — over a rocky bottom and not a thing 

 in the dredge was a disappointment, while the third 

 pull oif a steep precipice brought up the dredge filled 

 to the brim with a soft ooze, containing only two or 

 three worms and a few dead shells. 



On Sunday, the 3d, services were conducted by Rev. 

 David A. Wasson, one of our party. About twenty of 

 the fishermen came aboard, and after the meeting we 

 found them very communicative, the sole topic of con- 

 versation, that which is the staple talk on these shores, 

 being the fisheries, both of the cod and seal. One sealer 

 of 120 tons during a cruise of three months laid in a 

 cargo of 148 tons of seal's fat obtained from 4700 seals. 

 Last year (1863) twenty to thirty sealing-vessels were 

 lost in Green Bay, and six hundred men were obliged 

 to abandon their vessels and vvalk home, "with nothing 

 but their boots," on the ice which was packed in towards 

 the shore. A few remained aboard. March was an open 

 month, while April was cold and frosty; "the ice was 

 packed in 25 or 30 feet, making it bad for the sealers." 



On inquiring of an old Newfoundlander why they 



